Metallica Stole This Song From Megadeth

[00:00:00]This is Shred. And in 1983, Metallica fired Dave Mustain. No. And I got to say, since then, the Ginger Genius has been extremely buttth hurt. Now, according to Mustain, Metallica committed a heinous crime. Despite Dave not being in the band, they still play his music. Hurry, SOMEONE CALL THE COPS.

[00:00:19][laughter] IN FACT, pretty much every chance he gets, Dave about Metallica stealing his songs. And to be fair, he does have co-writing credit on a lot of Metallica tracks, but I've seen his mansion. I think he's doing okay. So today, we'll be watching a live performance of Ride the Lightning, a track Dave claims as his own. He even released a cover of this cut on the latest self-titled Mega Death album. And what's crazy is he didn't even call James or give him a heads up. Says he doesn't even have his number anymore.

[00:00:48][laughter] Now, I want to hear from you.

[00:00:50]Was Dave done wrong by Metallica or did they treat him fairly? Now, get ready to ride the lightning.

[00:00:57]So, do you like Metallica or Mega Death?

[00:01:00][music] [music] [music] [music] If you want to write your own songs, learn music theory, the fretboard, and solo over anything, get my free theory Bible below. Hurry before I change my mind. Now, let's get into this Mega Ride the Lightning. I'm used to saying Metallica before Ride the Lightning.

[00:01:40]This was uploaded by Craig Creeks. And I think this is probably Grasshop or something. One of those uh European metal festivals. Let's go.

[00:01:52]Oh yeah. Straight into it.

[00:01:55]Dude, those harmonies instead of the standard thirds, we're hearing those fifths. Delicious, [music] dude. Mega Death's tone live, man.

[00:02:09]That's just it cuts like a knife.

[00:02:14]There's James, age 123, still rocking.

[00:02:20]Look at this. A change in the music already. a a key change. Actually, that went all the way up a step. Verse one.

[00:02:29][music] Now, this song is about capital punishment in particular, the electric chair, right? So, [music] takes it from a a man's perspective about to get cooked.

[00:02:46][music] So, he's not singing the chorus, huh? I noticed Dave does that. uh with Tornado of Souls now too. And I know he's, [music] you know, he's frail and uh aging. I don't know if it's too high in his range or or what he's thinking there. He's trying to get crowd participation.

[00:03:07]>> Verse two.

[00:03:10]>> I'm hearing a lot of tritones.

[00:03:14]If we try to find that key, it sounds like I think he's in D here because uh he normally is. Uh, let's find out.

[00:03:23]Boom. Yeah. So, so you could play like the D Whoops. You could play like the D minor scale here basically to kind of follow along. It's got that one flat or in this case sharp, a sharp. Uh, but that's going to get you uh the sound here. Now, there is one key tone here that that he's adding. It's the devil's interval, right? So, if I were to flat this pitch um Oh, whoops. You know what?

[00:03:50]Actually, it's it's this. It's [music] the fifth, right? So, that gives you that biting trionee. It's that chromatic spice that sounds like getting cooked on THE ELECTRIC CHAIR.

[00:04:02][groaning] NOW, let's get back into the track here.

[00:04:07]Verse two, [music] up a step to F#. It's actually E though since he's tuned down a whole step.

[00:04:16]That's one thing that helps with the aging voice, you know, just tuned down.

[00:04:19]He's not going to sing it again.

[00:04:22]Feels so empty there. [music] Teimu, can you step in and sing that for us? No, nobody's nobody's going to do it. Uh, well, Teimu, uh, we might have to let you go, son. If you can't, we know you can shred on level 69, but, uh, we're going to have to bring the vocals now, too.

[00:04:45]>> Okay, so we're already into a very adventurous bridge.

[00:04:51]Can't write songs like this anymore, guys.

[00:04:55]I need some whack juice just to handle this. [music] Ooh. Oh yeah, dude. I remember this part. Here we go.

[00:05:10][music] Wow.

[00:05:14]I think that was Vladimir Putin right there in the uh the crowd. this bald-headed dude. Anyways, I didn't know you were a a fan of Mega Death Putin.

[00:05:30]Ooh.

[00:05:32]Okay, Timu [music] is going to take us into tapping land.

[00:05:40]His tone [music] is just choice.

[00:05:46]What a nice melody. [music] Now, did Dave Wright solo to this song, too, or is he playing Kirk Hammet's lines?

[00:05:55]That'd be a damn shame if he was. Okay, here's here's [music] his solo. Give it to me, Dave.

[00:06:06]It's so cool. I know he's got uh Viking hand, which causes your hand to kind of involuntarily close, but I mean, look, he's still shredding.

[00:06:23]Oh, interesting. They used a backing track there. Holy Mega Death using backing tracks.

[00:06:31]You know what I mean? Well, actually, Teimu could have uh used a fist harmony pedal. Maybe that's that's probably what he did.

[00:06:40]Don't worry, guys. Everything's cool.

[00:06:42]There's no backing tracks yet in Mega Dead.

[00:06:47]Whoa.

[00:06:49][music] Yeah, it sounds a little bit like Holy Wars, right? He's just chromatically moving up the dueling guitar souls. What a great section.

[00:07:05]And it's all about this guy, right, just [music] thinking about what's about to happen.

[00:07:11]You know, he's he's going to die in the electric chair, you know? I mean, just imagine the dread. You know, these licks, these solos really give you a sense of that. [music] So, when you write music, you want to have an idea in mind. What are you trying to say, bro?

[00:07:31][music] Really nice chromatic spider riffs here.

[00:07:35]We got those [music] spider cords going.

[00:07:40]>> This is a fantastic song.

[00:07:45][music] So dynamic. I I feel like I'm watching a film that just has these surprise plot points. Oh no, this guy's sleeping with that girl. What? You know, you're just learning something new at every corner. twists, turns.

[00:08:06]Okay, back into the main riff [music] with that spicy flat five. That's pretty much every Metallica song to be honest.

[00:08:18][music] >> And it's interesting why a track like this, you know, didn't blow up like uh let's say Enter Sandman, right? You know, this just wasn't quite commercial enough.

[00:08:32]Okay, back to uh the chorus.

[00:08:36]This song, let's see, it's over six minutes long. Hard to sell over 6 minutes [music] up to F.

[00:08:54][music] Ooh, another trionee.

[00:08:59]>> [music] >> Yeah, I'm loving their guitar tone. I don't know what they use. Um, [music] obviously have Marshall stacks in the back, but these days a lot of times it's it's really just some, you know, amp simulator that's uh running the sound.

[00:09:18]Wow. Back to the fifths. Beautiful track. Okay, listen. I need to level with you guys. I feel like songwriting is in a state of crisis these days. A track like Ride the Lightning, it's got twists and turns. It's dramatic, dynamic, and full of surprises. And these days, music is disturbingly predictable. It's almost like we're afraid to experiment or reach for new sounds. And here's the thing, whether Dave wrote this track or not, it really slaps. And something else, Dave Mustain is not going to be around much longer.

[00:09:51]It's clear his body is breaking down and becoming frail. So, this could be your last chance.